43 B’nei Menashe Make Aliyah From India

Return to Zion?: A group of Bnei Menashe are greeted by family on their arrival in Israel in 2012. Image by getty images

By JTA June 19, 2014

Forty-three Bnei Menashe, who claim to be Jews descended from the biblical tribe of Menashe, arrived in Israel on aliyah.

The new immigrants moved to Israel on Thursday from the northeastern Indian state of Manipur.

Some 250 Bnei Menashe have made aliyah in June, among 410 who have arrived in Israel since January.

Some 900 Bnei Menashe are expected to arrive in Israel in 2014, sponsored by the Jerusalem-based Shavei Israel organization.

Bnei Menashe members must undergo a conversion process even though it is accepted as fact that they have Jewish roots.

More than 1,700 Bnei Menashe are living in Israel. As many as 7,000 remain in northeastern India, according to Shavei Israel.

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